Later, AMD spun off its manufacturing operations into a new company, GlobalFoundries, and it is that company that will operate the new Saratoga County factory.

"When we announced it back in 2006, this is what we had hoped for," Pataki said in a phone interview Wednesday. "I'm very proud of this, and I appreciate Governor Paterson inviting me. It's always incredibly rewarding to see a vision actually happening."

Local economic development officials say today's event is more than just ceremonial. It signals the dawn of a new era for the local economy.

"The Saratoga County region will not look anything like it looks today," said Peter Aust, president of the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County. "It's all going to look different and feel different, and all for the better."

Over the next two years, more than 1,400 laborers, project managers and engineers are expected to be working at Luther Forest constructing the $800 million building to house the factory, or "chip fab."

Once completed and fully operational by 2012, the facility is expected to employ up to 1,465 people, with an additional 5,000 "spin-off" jobs created by supplier firms to support the plant.

Work began more than a month ago at the 223-acre site GlobalFoundries bought at Luther Forest for $7.8 million. Contractors are clearing 100 acres where the factory, known as Fab 2, will be built.

But there isn't enough parking yet, so guests attending today's groundbreaking are being shuttled onto the site by bus from the Malta Commons Business Park off Exit 12 of the Northway.

The groundbreaking is big news for the struggling semiconductor industry. Fab 2 is the only advanced computer chip factory currently being built in the United States using the latest 300-millimeter technology that produces computer chips from 12-inch silicon wafers. The company is hoping the facility will process as many as 35,000 wafers each month.

"I'm really devastated," said George Lee, president of Glimmerglass Ltd., a Silicon Valley semiconductor consulting firm that does work in the Capital Region. "I have an invitation and I can't get out there. I think it's significant. It's very good for the region."

After facing financial difficulties, AMD decided last year to spin off its manufacturing operations, including two fabs in Dresden, Germany. Using what's known as a foundry model, AMD became GlobalFoundries' first customer, and GlobalFoundries is expecting to announce new customers by next month to help justify building the New York fab.

Under the terms of the deal to create GlobalFoundries, another Abu Dhabi fund called Mubadala Development Co. bought 58 million shares of AMD and warrants to buy 35 million more. Mubadala can exercise those warrants — meaning they can use them to buy more shares — once the Fab 2 groundbreaking occurs today, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Those same filings show ATIC has promised to pump between $3.6 billion and $6 billion into GlobalFoundries over the next five years to expand one of the Dresden plants and finish Fab 2 here.

The filings also show the funds are contingent in part on GlobalFoundries moving toward building a fab in Abu Dhabi. The papers talk about a "cluster" of Abu Dhabi fabs capable of producing 75,000 wafers a month.

That would seem to preclude GlobalFoundries, on paper at least, from building any more fabs at Luther Forest, where it has enough land for two more factories.

"That's not necessarily true," said GlobalFoundries spokesman Travis Bullard. "It all depends on who our customers are and what their needs are. It's not a linear thing. We're expecting growth and development in multiple areas of the world."

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.